Bellevue, text by Jeff Rian, edited by Elein Fleiss.

Bellevue, text by Jeff Rian, edited by Elein Fleiss.  Hardcover book with pictorial boards (no dust jacket) published by Purple Books / Fiction, Inc. 2000, unpaginated with colour photographs throughout.  

I’ve had this book for quite a while… a number of years… maybe 4 years(?)…but have only just listed it for sale on Books & Collectibles.  As a bookseller I don’t like to have stock that doesn’t sell or that I’ve had for “quite a while”.  Call me old fashioned, but I like books that I can sell.  Some of you may scoff at my comment particularly after reading through my previous blog entries re some of the titles I do have for sale. But seriously, i feel that most of the books I have for sale should sell otherwise why would i waste my (and your) time.  This book despite all my best efforts, has not sold.

Here at Huc & Gabet, we tend to move stock through various processes such as on line and in store and then possibly on line again depending on the item, before eventually (and sadly) marking down.  These processes can take years before we take the drastic action of putting a book in a sale bin at a drastically reduced price.  I’m a firm believer, that if a book hasn’t sold after years of trying, the chances are that it probably wont and it’s time to move the book along.

This book is a bit of an anomaly.  Initially i tried listing it on ebay, to no avail.  Then tried ebay again.  Then I took it too my first book fair and then I placed it on a shelf in a shop.  I’ve always felt that the book suffers from a lack of excitement re the title or the cover.  My poor on line description of the contents probably hasn’t helped it either.  This is partly due to the lack of information contained in the book itself, which with what information there is, is a little bit abstract. Currently I have the book described as:

“A wonderful collection of modern photography.”

…which is probably not enough to get people excited about it.  Even as I write this, I feel that I could say more, but I don’t know what to say.  So with a lack of sales (saleability) and a lack of an exciting description why do I still persist?

I like the book.  I find the images exciting and stimulating and they inspire me.  There’s lots of other books that I like that I don’t have that much of an issue letting go of, but this one… there’s something about it that prevents me from crossing through the original price and letting it go.

I really should let go of it, but you never know… actually, I think I do know.